Ancient Monuments

History on the Ground

This site is entirely user-supported. See how you can help.

Bowl barrow south of Westburton Hill: part of Westburton Hill round barrow cemetery

A Scheduled Monument in Bury, West Sussex

We don't have any photos of this monument yet. Why don't you be the first to send us one?

Upload Photo »

Approximate Location Map
Large Map »

If Google Street View is available, the image is from the best available vantage point looking, if possible, towards the location of the monument. Where it is not available, the satellite view is shown instead.

Coordinates

Latitude: 50.9072 / 50°54'25"N

Longitude: -0.5931 / 0°35'35"W

OS Eastings: 499014.58042

OS Northings: 112907.203157

OS Grid: SU990129

Mapcode National: GBR FHL.0VL

Mapcode Global: FRA 96NP.SX9

Entry Name: Bowl barrow south of Westburton Hill: part of Westburton Hill round barrow cemetery

Scheduled Date: 7 April 1967

Last Amended: 19 November 1992

Source: Historic England

Source ID: 1008742

English Heritage Legacy ID: 20089

County: West Sussex

Civil Parish: Bury

Traditional County: Sussex

Lieutenancy Area (Ceremonial County): West Sussex

Church of England Parish: Bury St John the Evangelist with Houghton St Nicholas

Church of England Diocese: Chichester

Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow, part of a linear round barrow cemetery
consisting of five bowl barrows, four surviving as earthworks while the fifth
has been levelled by cultivation. It is situated in a dry valley sloping SSE
in chalk downland. The barrow has a mound 19m in diameter and 0.3m high.
Surrounding this is a ditch from which material was quarried during the
construction of the monument. It is no longer visible at ground level having
become infilled over the years but now survives as a buried feature c.3m wide.

MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.
It includes a 2 metre boundary around the archaeological features,
considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

Round barrow cemeteries date to the Bronze Age (c.2000-700 BC). They comprise
closely-spaced groups of up to 30 round barrows - rubble or earthen mounds
covering single or multiple burials. Most cemeteries developed over a
considerable period of time, often many centuries, and in some cases acted as
a focus for burials as late as the early medieval period. They exhibit
considerable diversity of burial rite, plan and form, frequently including
several different types of round barrow, occasionally associated with earlier
long barrows. Where large scale investigation has been undertaken around them,
contemporary or later "flat" burials between the barrow mounds have often been
revealed. Round barrow cemeteries occur across most of lowland Britain, with a
marked concentration in Wessex. In some cases, they are clustered around other
important contemporary monuments such as henges. Often occupying prominent
locations, they are a major historic element in the modern landscape, whilst
their diversity and their longevity as a monument type provide important
information on the variety of beliefs and social organisation amongst early
prehistoric communities. They are particularly representative of their period
and a substantial proportion of surviving or partly-surviving examples are
considered worthy of protection.

Despite some damage from ploughing, the barrow south of Westburton Hill
survives as an earthwork and contains archaeological remains and environmental
evidence relating to the monument and the landscape in which it was
constructed.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Grinsell, L V, 'Sussex Archaeological Collections' in Sussex Barrows, , Vol. 75, (1934)

Source: Historic England

Other nearby scheduled monuments

AncientMonuments.uk is an independent online resource and is not associated with any government department. All government data published here is used under licence. Please do not contact AncientMonuments.uk for any queries related to any individual ancient or schedued monument, planning permission related to scheduled monuments or the scheduling process itself.

AncientMonuments.uk is a Good Stuff website.